Visa facts for kids

A visa is like a special permission slip from a country that lets you visit it. It's usually a stamp or a sticker placed in your passport by that country's embassy or consulate. This visa tells you why you can visit (like for a holiday or to study) and how long you're allowed to stay. Sometimes, you might even have a short chat at the embassy before you get your visa.

Many countries ask visitors from other countries to have both a valid passport and a visa before they can enter. But there are some exceptions where you don't need a visa at all!

Some countries, like those that used to be part of the Soviet Union, even required their own citizens, and sometimes foreign visitors, to get an "exit visa" to leave the country. This isn't common anymore. For example, foreign students in Russia used to need an exit visa to go home, but now they get visas that let them enter and leave multiple times.

Getting Your Visa

You can sometimes get a visa when you arrive in a country, like at the airport. Other times, you need to apply for it before you travel. You can do this at the country's embassy or consulate in your home country. Sometimes, special travel agencies can help you get one too.

If a country doesn't have an embassy where you live, you might have to travel to another country to apply, or send your application by mail. Whether you need a visa often depends on where you're from, how long you plan to stay, and what you want to do in that country. Different reasons for visiting mean different types of visas.

Some countries have "reciprocal" visa rules. This means if Country A asks people from Country B to have a visa, then Country B might also ask people from Country A to have a visa. It works the other way too: if Country A lets people from Country B visit without a visa, Country B might do the same for people from Country A.

Different Kinds of Visas

There are many types of visas, each for a different purpose:

• A transit visa is for when you're just passing through a country to get to another place. It's usually valid for a very short time, like three days or less.
• A tourist visa is for holidays and sightseeing. You can't usually do business activities with this visa. Some countries, like Saudi Arabia, only started offering tourist visas recently.
• A business visa is for people who need to do business in a country. This doesn't usually let you work there permanently; you'd need a different visa for that.
• A temporary worker visa is for people who have been approved to work in a country for a certain period. These can be harder to get but usually let you stay longer than a business visa.
• A visa on arrival means you get your visa right when you enter the country, for example, at the airport. It's different from not needing a visa at all, because you still have to get it before you can go through immigration. Sometimes, it's just a small fee.
• A spousal visa is for someone who is married to a person living in or from that country. It helps the couple live together in that country.
• A student visa lets you study at a college or university in the country that issues it.
• A working holiday visa is for young people who want to travel and do some temporary work in certain countries.
• A diplomatic visa is for diplomats and government officials. It gives them special status.
• A journalist visa is needed by reporters and media professionals when they travel for their news organizations in some countries, like Cuba or North Korea.
• A fiancee visa is for someone who plans to marry a citizen of that country. It's given for a limited time before the wedding.
• An immigrant visa is for people who plan to move to and live permanently in a country. Once you have this, you usually get a special ID card that lets you enter the country many times.

How Long Can You Stay?

Visas can be for a single-entry, meaning you can only enter the country once with that visa. Once you leave, the visa is no longer valid. They can also be for double-entry or multiple-entry, which let you enter the country more than once with the same visa.

A visa usually has to be used within a certain time frame. For example, if your visa is valid from January 1st to March 30th, you must enter the country during that time.

The visa's validity period is not the same as how long you can actually stay. For example, if you enter on March 1st with a visa valid until March 30th, and the country allows visitors to stay for 90 days, your 90 days start from March 1st. So, you could stay until May 30th, even though your visa's entry period ended in March.

If you stay longer than the time allowed by the immigration officers, even if your visa's overall validity period isn't over, it's considered a violation. You could face fines or be asked to leave the country.

Even if you have a visa, the border officers make the final decision about whether you can enter. They might even cancel your visa at the border if they're not convinced you'll follow the rules of your visit.

Extending Your Stay

Sometimes people leave a country briefly to get a new visa or permission to stay longer.

Many countries have a way for you to ask to stay longer once you are there. For example, in Denmark, you can apply for a Residence Permit after you arrive. In the United Kingdom, you can apply to the Border and Immigration Agency.

Sometimes, you can't extend your visa from inside the country. In these cases, people sometimes do a "visa run." This means they leave the country for a short time, then come back to get a new visa or a fresh permission to stay.

Why a Visa Might Be Denied

A visa application can be turned down for several reasons, such as if the person:

• Gave false information on their application.
• Can't show they have strong reasons to return to their home country.
• Wants to live or work permanently in the country they want to visit (if they are applying for a temporary visa).
• Doesn't have a clear reason for their trip.
• Can't show they have enough money to support themselves during their stay.
• Doesn't have a place to stay in the destination country.
• Hasn't arranged their travel plans.
• Doesn't have health or travel insurance for their trip.
• Is considered a security risk.
• Has had previous visa applications rejected.
• Is from a country that has poor relations with the host country.
• Has had previous immigration problems.
• Has never traveled outside their home country before.

Countries Where You Don't Need a Visa

While many countries require visas, there are special agreements that allow people to enter without one. For example, people with diplomatic passports often don't need visas, even if regular passport holders do.

Some countries have agreements where a visa isn't needed for short tourist visits. This can happen because countries are part of the same international groups or share a similar history.

• All citizens of ECOWAS member states (countries in West Africa) can enter and stay in any other member state for up to 90 days without a visa.
• People from countries in the East African Community don't need visas to enter other member states.
• Some countries in the Commonwealth of Nations (countries that were once part of the British Empire) don't require tourist visas for citizens of other Commonwealth countries.
• Most countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) don't need tourist visas for citizens of other ASEAN countries.
• Armenia and Uzbekistan allow citizens of most CIS member states (countries that were once part of the Soviet Union) to enter without a visa for tourism.

Other countries might also decide on their own to let people from certain countries visit without a visa to encourage tourism.

Common Visas for Multiple Countries

Normally, a visa is only valid for the country that issued it. But some groups of countries have agreements to issue a single visa that lets you visit several of them.

• The Schengen Visa is a well-known example. It's used by many European countries that are part of the Schengen Agreement. If you get a Schengen Visa, you can visit any or all of these countries as a tourist or for business without needing separate visas for each one. It's like having one key that opens many doors!

• The CARICOM Visa was a special visa used for a short time in 2006-2007 by 10 CARICOM countries. It allowed visitors to travel between them with just one visa. It was mainly for the Cricket World Cup but there are talks about bringing it back permanently.

• The Central American Single Visa is used by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. If you get this visa, you don't need separate visas for each of these countries. You can enter one and then travel to the others.

• An East African Single Tourist Visa is being planned for Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. If approved, tourists could get one visa that would be valid for all three countries, making it easier to explore the region.

• The SADC UNIVISA is also being developed for countries in Southern Africa. The goal is to make it easier for international tourists to visit multiple countries in the region with just one visa, especially for places like transfrontier parks that cross borders.

See also

In Spanish: Visa (desambiguación) para niños